Growing Phoenix Worms: A Step-by-Step Guide

Hello all. Just an FYI. I ended up having to buy the Flukers pad that has the adhesive... All I did was apply some plastic wrap to the sticky side and voila...problem solved. Happy worm growing! My Beastie loves them!

The Worm Lady
Annie Brenner

Hi, I have not ordered a Flukers pad yet as I am waiting for response here regarding the size, how much of the kritter keeper it should cover? And now I'm also confused, the Fluker is not an adhesive like the ones I've always bought from zoo-med? I have a feeling that the petsmart who told me they have Flukers small heating pad does have the adhesive, I'm not certain but I will know more this week when I go to buy one.
Even though I didn't hae the heat I went ahead and put my worms into the bread and homemade babyfood container and went and got some this morning for my BD.
they were really sluggish, but warmed up right away after being put in the warm tank with AMD( that's the initials of the dragon whom my daughter named, whose name I am embarrassed to spell out for you!).

Just for you guys no, when I tried to make my pheonix worms grow and everything I never used a Heatin pad and they acted perfectly fine. They grew nice and quick and I could of breed them if I wanted too. Also if you dont have a heating pad try putting the thing you have them in on a cable box or computer because those generate alot of heat. I accidentally put the container I hold my roaches in when Im about to feed my dragons on the cable box because I was moving things and forgot about it and when I went to pick it up it burnt me it got that hot. I put my temp gauge on there and said 92degrees. Or what I did for few days with my first batch of Pheonix Worms was I have a hanging light that you clip onto the side of the beardys tank. I also use a screen to well did. So I put the Kritter Keeper off to the side on the screen for it wouldnt be directly under the light because then my beardy wouldnt get any and the bottom of the Kritter Keeper got to 93degrees (if you have that and you have the light up a few inches and it pointing str8 down, put it about 4-6inches off to the side and the heat will heat the Keeper up, but I was using 120watt so). If you just put it near something that produces heat it will work just fine.
Good Luck

Adam Bailey

thinking about trying this.

So if they grow when kept at a 90+ degree temperature what does that say about the 'live delivery guarantees' that are no longer valid when shipping to a warm area?

Currently trying this.. Needless to say they didn't float long and I almost drowned my worms lol.. Instead of putting them on a heating pad I just put them on top of my iguana cage where her lights are they are thriving well.. But turning black faster.. They were medium worms to begin with so I imagine this is all fine?

Once they are the size you want them, how do you store them?

Wine cooler

Is there some way to breed them? or is it really hard? thanks!!!



Logan

Spike1etta":e0iic5tm said:

Wine cooler

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For those that don't have a wine cooler, how should they be kept once they reach the size you want?

I keep mine in a playmate cooler with a little ice. I elevate the container so it's no sitting directly on the ice. Works pretty good.

SApple":1h8gjf8b said:

I keep mine in a playmate cooler with a little ice. I elevate the container so it's no sitting directly on the ice. Works pretty good.

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Thanks.

I actually found out just a few minutes ago that my partially working fridge in the garage stays about 60 degrees, so I'll probably keep them out there. At least until I get the fridge fixed.

I have a couple questions. How long do you have before they hatch into the flies? Also, if you get them fattened up in two weeks, then chill them down, wouldn't they lose all that nice weight before being fed? Will they be hatching into nasty flies all over the place?

I am feeding my beardie crickets for the first feeding and reptiworms for the second feeding. Do I still need to dust the crickets with calcium or are the reptiworms for the second feeding enough?

Great post and thank you Adriana, ive read over the topic and noticed that nobody mention their worms escape? my worms climb the walls and their small (my dragon is a bit over a month) they escape thru the top of the kritter keeper i have the large one...? can somebody suggest a way to keep them from climbing the sides and out? lol thanks

A few things I do. One is keep the walls clean. Another, I put a piece of paper towel over the top of the container and then put the cover on. This does two things. It keeps the worms in and it keeps any outside things from making fruit flies and other things from growing and flying out. It also keeps the smell down a bit.

I now switched to an even better idea. I'm feeding Dubai roaches instead. They LOVE them. No stink, no jumping or climbing out, after they establish a colony, no more buying more bugs, they eat almost anything, they are super nutritious... what more can I ask? Oh, they don't hatch into flies or other nasty stuff and they live from 1-2 years.